• By JOHN WIRT
• Music critic
• Published: Nov 13, 2009

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Various artists
GLEE: THE MUSIC, VOLUME 1

In Glee, the hit TV series set at fictional McKinley High School, a glee club led by Mr. Schuester sings a repertoire that runs from classic rock to Broadway to hip-hop. Despite forces that conspire against the glee club, Schuester believes the group can be great. Bold performances in the debut soundtrack CD from Glee amplify his confidence. The talented Glee cast’s remakes of such vintage material as Queen’s “Somebody To Love,” Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’ ” and  Liza Minnelli’s “Maybe This Time” capture the sound and spirit of the original recordings. The music is probably new to much of the show’s audience, which means younger viewers can experience the songs for the first time. Older viewers, too, enjoy hearing classics performed so excellently. Except for occasional bombast and excess energy, Glee: The Music works beautifully. 

Ray Davies and the Crouch End Festival Chorus
THE KINKS CHORAL COLLECTION

The Kinks were among the dozens of British invasion pop-rock bands that followed the Beatles’ conquest of America in 1964. Co-founded by singer-songwriter Ray Davies and his guitarist brother, Dave, the group progressed from primal mid-’60s rockers “You Really Got Me” and “All Day and All of the Night” to the wry and observant “A Well Respected Man” and “Sunny Afternoon.” Davies mastered nostalgia, too, as heard in “Celluloid Heroes” and “Waterloo Sunset.”

The Kinks not being an ordinary rock band, perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that The Kinks Choral Collection’s arrangements of Kinks songs featuring the 65-member Crouch End Festival Chorus work so very well. 

As fun as rockers “Victoria” and “You Really Got Me” are, The Kinks Choral Collection’s piece de resistance is “Village Green Medley,” a six-song suite from the band’s ambitious, if underappreciated, 1968 album, The Village Green Preservation Society. Mixing humor, sentimental tunefulness and social statement, it’s quintessential Ray Davies.

The Kinks Choral Collection is a late-career delight from a master British songwriter who obviously has more tricks up his sleeve.

Vera Lynn
WE’LL MEET AGAIN — THE VERY BEST OF VERA LYNN

A national treasure in the United Kingdom, Dame Vera Lynn returned to the top of the British charts in September with this collection. Lynn, now 92, became Britain’s sweetheart in the darkest days of World War II thanks to her BBC radio program, Sincerely Yours, and morale-lifting songs such as “The White Cliffs of Dover” and “We’ll Meet Again.” Her unaffected style combined with lyrics about home and devoted loved ones waiting for the lads stationed at distant, dangerous outposts struck universal notes of consolation. Lynn starred in patriotic films, too, and her dramatic gifts are obvious in musical performances of “If You Love Me,” an Edith Piaf song, and her No. 1 American hit from 1952, “Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart.” Even more than 50 and 60 years after Lynn recorded these performances, their poignancy is timeless.